


Years and Time

by TeaRoses



Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 02:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Age does not make Chihiro forget.  Written for the "schmoop bingo" prompt "long-lost love."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Years and Time

Years passed, and Chihiro grew into adulthood. She feared that once she lost the heart of a child she would somehow lose her memories of all that happened in the spirit world, but just as some part of her had been left in that world, some part of that world was left with her. And though she could not see everything as fresh and new anymore, and reality intruded just a little too much on her dreams, she was still Chihiro.

Still, she never married, and that was partly because of Haku. Not because she compared other men to him; that would hardly be fair. But the love she had felt for him was never equaled, no matter whom she met or how much she cared for them. If her friends had known they might have called her foolish, but she knew certain matters must remain in silence.

And if the mirror showed her growing grey, and lines appearing on her face, she tried not to let it bother her. No one lived forever, not in the world she had to face each day. In a way she looked forward to being an old woman, who could have her own quirks and longings and laughter. And then one day she realized that was exactly what she was. 

Children loved her, because she always had the most fascinating stories about animals and spirits. And she never told them always to obey, or not to dream. She didn't find herself wishing that she had children of her own. For these young ones to carry her memory would be enough.

Then one day she saw it, a flash of green and white running past her doorway. When she chased the colors outside, he was standing there, looking just as she had seen him in the spirit world. She had dreamed of him often, but she was certain this was not a dream.

"I have come for you," he said, holding out his hand. "If you will go back with me."

She didn't ask him why he had taken so long, nor where they were going. It was enough for her that Haku was asking her, and her heart pounded in her chest as it had when she was a child. Slowly, carefully, she took his hand.

"I will follow you," she said. "I would take no other choice. But I am not as fit as I once was, and I do not know if I can go riding on the back of a dragon. And you -- you are forever young, you know."

Haku looked puzzled.

"I am only saying," she persisted, "that our adventures may not be what you once dreamed of, or what I did." 

"But I love you," he stated.

She believed him, but she was more than old enough to know that love had its limits. As much as romantics would want to say it conquered all, she knew better, and thought he did too.

"Can you make me young again, then?" she asked, chiding herself inwardly for her greediness.

Haku looked into her eyes. "Are you old? I hadn't even thought of that. I only noticed that you were Chihiro."

He kissed her, the dry lips in the lined face, and then he laughed. "I am older than you are," he reminded her. "Shall I hate you for growing?"

She laughed in return. "Let us go, then," she said. Love was far from worthless, and coming from Haku, it was enough.


End file.
